http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/realtrekkietricorderinvented


Almost, but not quite. But, it's getting closer.;)

"You could be out in the middle of a remote village and still have cell phone access," said researcher Antoni Ivorra,

Well, that's Star Trek right there; there are going to be cell towers in line-of-sight with remote villages? Heck, I can't can get good signal on my phone unless I'm standing near a window in my house or outside in the middle of a parking lot. It's been great to "cut the cord", but cell phone reliability is still lacking.

Ok, now we have communicators and tricorders. Next, we need a hand phaser that has stun, kill and dematerialize settings.

And Flying Saucers! We NEED flying saucers!

Y3a you already got a fling saucer so what are you complaining about? If that's what you're doing that is.:wave:
And her name is the Jupiter II

So was Gene Rodenberry that much of a visionary, or did most scientists and engineers grow up watching trek and try to invent stuff from the show?

Probably a bit of both!